February 2015 Mission to Montenegro Newsletter

May God be gracious to us and bless us and 
      make his face to shine upon us,
that your way may be known on earth, your saving power 
     among all nations.   Let the peoples praise you, O God; 
Let all the peoples praise you!  Ps. 67:1-3

Grace and Peace to you in the name of God our Father!

It is good to be back in Nikšić; we are excited to share the following highlights with you:

• Stan has been able to pick right up with preaching through the Gospel of Luke, ch. 6 (morning service) and Philippians, ch. 4 (evening service) This time around the men leading the services during our absence continued the practice of preaching consecutively through Scriptures rather than from individually chosen texts. They found that preaching through the Scriptures was a different, but good, challenge for them all, as well as a blessing to the congregation.

• We are seeing new people come to our services.  We've welcomed one new brother (R.) who became a believer in Bosnia but now lives in Nikšić.  He has regularly been attending both services for the past several months.  We've also had several young people (late teens/early 20s) visit Sunday services recently.

Ps. 67: The Nations (Denmark, Montenegro, USA, Serbia) gathered to praise and make known God's saving power

• We celebrated the grand opening of the Student Center and the formal launching of EUS Montenegro this past week! From the outset of our time here in MNE, we've reached out to university students. That small beginning, built upon by many, has blossomed into the establishment of EUS-Montenegro, an independent member of IFES (International Fellowship of Evangelical Students).  Like the apostle Paul, we are not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes.  To God be the glory!

Danijel addressing the crowd at the Grand Opening of the Student Center

Stan highlighting the importance of God's Word and place of the local church in Student Ministry

Upcoming Ministry and Prayer Requests

• We will be hosting the All-Montenegro Believer's Meeting this coming March 14th.  This is an annual event that confirms and testifies what a blessing it is when believers dwell together in unity.  As the hosts this year, we have made arrangements with the local hotel to use their facilities, but nothing is truly confirmed as the hotel is in bankruptcy proceedings with ever-changing authorities in charge. Please pray that as we make our plans, the Lord would direct our steps.

• We are in the delightful position of needing to outfit a church nursery! We have two families expecting a baby in the next few months, plus a couple of preschoolers and toddlers. Along with prayers for safe deliveries, please pray that God would send someone with the heart, time, and resources to minister regularly to our growing congregation of little ones, both within the church and without.

With great love and appreciation for your ongoing prayers and support in this great work of God,

Stan and Vicki Surbatovich

Mission to Montenegro

Prayer and Praise Bulletin Points:

• Praise God for men who ably preached God's Word in our absence, and for the freedom we have to proclaim God's truth.  Please pray that God would use His Word to pierce the hearts of many unto repentance.
• Praise God for the new faces we've seen on Sunday.  Pray for R. as he misses his old congregation, that we would continue to warmly welcome him and help him find his place here.  Pray for the young people who are searching for the truth, that God would open their hearts and minds to receive Him by faith.
• Praise God for the new phase on ongoing student ministry via EUS-Montenegro and the multi-national partnering from which it grew.  Please pray that this new organization, its leaders, and the new Student Center all be used for the glory of God, seeing His kingdom grow both here in Nikšić and in all Montenegro.
• Praise God for the opportunity to gather as brothers and sisters united in Christ. Pray that our time together in March would be pleasing to God, an encouragement to us believers, and a witness to the community of our awesome God.
• Praise God for the little ones He is knitting together in our local congregation as well as others here in Montenegro and the former Yugoslavia.  This is the first generation here in a long while to be consciously raised in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.  Please pray for the hearts of these children and for their parents to diligently love, teach, and train them.  Also, please pray for someone to minister to the children via nursery, Sunday School, and other outreaches.

January 2015 Mission to Montenegro Newsletter

For just as the body is one and has many members, 

     and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, 

so it is with Christ. For in one Spirit we were all baptized 

     into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—

and all were made to drink of one Spirit.     I Cor. 12:12-13

Grace and Peace to you in the name of God our Father!

Greetings from Nikšić, Montenegro!  Our mini-furlough is over, and we are pleased to report that we were able to accomplish all our major goals for our time stateside:

• We had a packed but productive time with family, visits, medical appointments, and more.  God kept us healthy and active the whole time.

• God watched over our Nikšić brethren who enjoyed good teaching and preaching, new visitors, reunions with believers back in town for the holidays, and a successful outreach into two public schools for the Samaritan's Purse/Operation Christmas Child Shoebox project.

• We are so blessed to experience these truths firsthand and hope we shared the joy with you, that we all are God's one body:

Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone,  in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord,  in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.  Eph 2: 19-22

Soli Deo Gloria!

With much love and appreciation for your ongoing prayers and faithful support in this great work of God,

Stan and Vicki Surbatovich
Mission to Montenegro

This month: A pictorial bonus from our last week.  Next Month:  Back to our regular newsletter format.

Enjoying Food and Fellowship

With Old Friends and New

From All Over the World

Packed Auditorium for Christmas Presentation

Christmas Goodies PLUS the Good News of Christ--The Greatest Gift

Warm Days for Heart and Body

The Snow We Missed!!!

December 2014 Mission to Montenegro Newsletter

The Lord has made bare His holy arm
     In the eyes of all the nations;

And all the ends of the earth shall see

      The salvation of our God.  Isaiah 52:10

Grace and Peace to you from God our Father!

Praise God for all the good He has done for us, and for His everlasting love found in Christ Jesus our Lord:  Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel. 

• Although we are away from Niksic, the Lord is not!  Highlights of the ministry while away:  new people coming to meetings, the new storefront for student outreach is being outfitted, the Word of God faithfully preached, and more.  Please continue to remember the leadership team:  Danijel, Peter, Nemanja, and Rade. Also, pray for the Operation Christmas Child/Samaritan Purse Christmas Shoebox outreach and distribution.

• We are more than halfway through our mini-furlough.  We've spent time with family, visited with friends, and enjoyed sharing ministry highlights and needs with churches and supporters, and more. Enjoy a few photo highlights from this past month:

Family fun!  Note the short sleeves!

Pastor Davies and Co. on a mission to rescue the missionaries!
Note the snow!

Reporting on M2M* with friends in Baltimore

Our California Christmas Palm

With great love and appreciation for your ongoing prayers and support in this great work of God,

Stan and Vicki Surbatovich

Mission to Montenegro

*M2M:  Mission to Montenegro

November 2014 Mission to Montenegro Newsletter

Do you not know?  Have you not heard?  The Lord is the 
     everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He will not grow tired or weary;  and his understanding 
             no one can fathom.  He gives strength to the weary
    and increases the power of the weak.   Is. 40:28,29

Grace to you and peace from God our Father!

This month's newsletter will be slightly different as we are now stateside for a mini furlough.

• Praise God for a safe, uneventful trip and a quick settling here in sunny So. California.  A rough sketch for our time here: 

1. Two weeks to settle in and reconnect with our sending church, Faith Community Church.
2. Thanksgiving Week spent with our children and the grandparents.
3. First half of December will be spent in the New York/New Jersey/Maryland area visiting churches and friends.
4. Christmas Holidays celebrating Christ's Birth!
5. January spent in the Southern California area, taking care of last medical appointments, extended family visits, and continued meet-ups with our FCC brethren and others.

Please pray for good health, lovely family times, cementing old ties and making new ones at FCC, plus a vivacious sharing of the ministry and what God is accomplishing in Montenegro and Nikšić.

Fun times in California!

• Praise God for the local leadership team leading the church in Montenegro.  Please pray for our dear friends and brethren who will be sharing the teaching, preaching, and leading of the Nikšić Fellowship in our absence:  for the unity of the spirit, for protection from above, and for the advancement of God's people and growth of the church.

Peter Stonelake

Danijel and Martina Petkovski

Nemanja and Jelena Poluga

Rade Vukotic

With great love and appreciation for your ongoing prayers and support in this great work of God,

Stan and Vicki Surbatovich

Mission to Montenegro

October 2014 Mission to Montenegro Newsletter

Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him 
       the name that is above every name,  so that at the name of Jesus 
every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 
       and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, 
            to the glory of God the Father.  Phil. 2:9-11

Hallelujah!  For the Lord our God the Almighty reigns!

• This has been a good month for getting back into the regular rhythms of church life.  Stan  continues to preach through the Gospel of Luke and the Letter to the Phillipians, with the men participating in the In-House Preaching seminars occasionally taking the pulpit as well and continuing to preach through these texts consecutively.  This has been very good for the church:  continuity plus a variety of communication styles.  Our mid-week sermon discussions/prayer meetings have been lively and fruitful.  

•  We are blessed with a good number of godly men in our fellowship which is a direct answer to our/your prayers over the years.  Unlike many congregations in the Balkans, our makeup of males/females is 70/30% which is a huge change from the days when Stan and the boys were the only males.  However, we long to see God add to the church: men, women, children, entire families. 

• It is exciting that some of the students first met at the end of spring semester are back and eager to learn more about God from the Bible.  Along with the usual contact via Student Bible Study and Conversation Club, we are hosting a semi-regular Friday Lunch as well as encouraging some one-on-one times to allow for deeper and more personal questions and discussions.

• Next month's newsletter will be written while we are Stateside!  We are in the final throes of putting all in order here for our absence as well as looking ahead to our time there.  We are especially grateful for Peter G. who will be staying in our house and keeping the cats company.

To God be the glory for the great things He has done here in Nikšić and Montenegro.  However, we know and are extremely grateful for all that you have done in His name to help make this happen:  your faithful prayers, faithful giving, faithful encouragements. 

Stan and Vicki Surbatovich
Mission to Montenegro

Prayer and Praise Bullet Points:

• Praise the Lord for the freedom we have to openly meet and proclaim His truths, and for those able to teach and preach them.  Pray for those who will be filling the pulpit while we are gone:  Peter S., Danijel, Nemanja, and Rade--for grace, peace, wisdom, and unity as they study the Word and work together leading the believers here in Nikšić.
• Praise the Lord for answering our prayers to "Raise up men!" which was a continuous prayer request a number of years ago.  Pray now for multitudes to come to faith.  But pray especially for the unbelieving wives of the married believing men; many are not against the gospel per se but are bound and weighted by the duties and prejudices of local culture.  And pray that we as a church can reach them with the love and hope of Christ.
• Praise the Lord that some of the students we were first introduced to during the Michael Ots/UCCF outreach last spring are back and wanting to pick up the relationships that we had just started.  Please pray for this group of young people who are interested in spiritual matters but have a swirling eddy of conflicting, competing thoughts gleaned from diverse readings.  Pray that Biblical truths will illuminate and free them to follow God whole-heartedly.
• Praise the Lord that we are able to visit Stateside and leave the church without needing to call "an outsider" to lead while we are gone.  This is a first!  We have a lot to do once on US soil and are trusting God to help orchestrate many things, including varying housing needs, transportation, visitations, holidays, healthcare appointments, and more.  Please pray for us to make the best use of our limited time and to get a bit of rest and relaxation, too!

• Reminder: We are planning to take a short furlough this coming November to mid-January.  Our desire is to be in California to celebrate Thanksgiving with all the family, and reconnect with friends and supporters the rest of the time.   If you would like us to visit, please contact Stan ASAP.

September 2014 Mission to Montenegro Newsletter

I will sing of the Lord’s great love forever; with my mouth
       I will make your faithfulness known through all generations. 
I will declare that your love stands firm forever,
          that you have established your faithfulness 
                  in heaven itself. Ps. 89:1,2

Who is mighty like You, O Lord?

Who, indeed, is mighty like the Lord?  What a great God we serve!  Here are a few highlights of His faithfulness to us and the ministry here in Nikšić:

• Stan spent much of this month in the States, helping the fledgling European Tonewoods Work Project (primarily run and manned by local believers for the purpose of providing sustainable work) attend a major show (Violin Society of America, (VSA)).  While there, he also visited and ministered at our sending church, Faith Community Church, and the brethren in Bremen, Indiana.

• We greatly rejoice in the raising up of the next generation of leaders as Peter, Danijel, Rade, and Nemanja ably filled the pulpit and led services while Stan was gone, bearing the fruit of the ongoing weekly In-House Preaching seminars. It is exciting to see the foundations being laid for making God's faithfulness known through all generations here in Montenegro. 

• Due to packed schedules amongst all the churches and our own upcoming mini-furlough, the window for hosting the All-Montenegro Believers' Meeting narrowed to nothing, so the date has been set for March 14, 2015. Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity! Ps. 133:1

•  In the spirit of unity and cooperation, Camp Monty supporters have acquired a small "storefront" very close to the university to be used for the teen meetings, university mid-week bible studies, as an office for Danijel (who ministers to university students), and other possible public outreaches of our fellowship.  The lease has been signed, but it is currently an empty space, ready to be outfitted as yet another beacon of light.  To God be the glory!

• Reminder: We are planning to take a short furlough this coming November to mid-January.  Our desire is to be in California to celebrate Thanksgiving with all the family, and reconnect with friends and supporters the rest of the time.   If you would like us to visit, please contact Stan ASAP.

 

We say this every month, but we truly appreciate your generous love, prayers, and support in this great work of God. And we look forward to seeing some of you in a few short months!

Stan and Vicki Surbatovich
Mission to Montenegro

Prayer and Praise Bullet Points

• Praise God for European Tonewood's successful showing at the VSA event.  The lack of sustainable work (in part due to years under Communism, in part due to the global economic crisis, and in part due to sinful habits) drives many, including believers, away from this spiritually needy land.  Please pray that God would bring forth an intern, retiree, or marketing specialist, to help the business grow from a fledgling concern to a thriving business.  And please pray and consider whether God is calling you to this supporting ministry.
• Praise to the Lord for building our fellowship with such a delightful mix of people, young and old, men and women, and for those willing and able to develop their leadership abilities. Join with us, for we do not despise these small beginnings, for the Lord rejoices to see the work begin. Zech. 4:10  Pray for the Lord to give the increase.
• Praise to the Lord for the freedom we have to worship the Lord and to share our faith.  Please pray for the ongoing activities of the church:  Sunday services, mid-week prayer meeting, student/teen outreaches, English Conversation Club, one-on-one mentoring, and visitations.  Also pray that we would make the most of our opportunities to reach out to our community around us and not grow weary with well-doing.
• Praise God for the new storefront location close to the university.  Please pray that we would use it wisely, and that many would come through its doors and leave wanting to know more about God and His great love.

Note:  If you would like to receive this newsletter update directly, please subscribe at:  http://christianitymontenegro.blogspot.com/  

August 2014 Mission to Montenegro Newsletter

So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth;
It shall not return to Me void,
But it shall accomplish what I please,
And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.   Is.55: 11

For the Lord is the Great God   

• Several hundred young people, ages 6-21, participated in Camp Monty, the annual summer evangelistic sports outreach held here in late July.   Along with sports and other activities, the gospel was clearly shared, relationships deepened, and results left to God.  (Is. 55:11)

•  Encouragingly, the new teen Bible Study has taken off, made up primarily with young people first reached via Camp Monty: this is our most successful post-Camp follow-up.  For the past few Wednesdays, our living room has been packed with this new high school group hearing the word of God, followed by enjoying food, friends, and fun!

Weds. Evening Teen Bible Study

•  In the midst of all the high-energy happenings of the past month, we were saddened and sobered by the tragic passing of one of our regulars, Miss S, who was baptized in June 2013.   We had our own memorial service that Sunday evening, where Stan preached an encouraging message on the reality of God's sure faithfulness and Christ's victory over death, and gave everyone an opportunity to share heartfelt tears and memories.

 Upcoming Ministry and Family News

• We are entering the "Transition Time" of the year as we switch from summer's special activities (camps, hikes, BBQ's, visitors) to fall's regular routines (new schedules, Bible Studies, one-on-one mentoring, visitations).  It is also time to say good-bye to our students:  Josiah, Milijana, Danica, and Anđela. We will be marking the transition with a church-centered (ie., non-evangelistic focused) BBQ the last Sunday of August.

•  We will be hosting the All-Montenegro Believer's Meeting this October but are finding it a challenge to rent an affordable location for the gathering.

• While we were sad to see Josiah leave for his third year of studies, we were grateful that despite his 2 separate tickets with five flights, he made it all the way to Rochester without missing a connection.  Milijana will be leaving next week to begin her second year of studies, and we are praying her flights go smoothly despite pending volcanic activity in Iceland.

With great love and appreciation for your ongoing prayers and support in this great work of God,

Stan and Vicki Surbatovich

Mission to Montenegro

Prayer and Praise Bulletin Points:

• Praise God for the well-attended Camp Monty outreach and the hard work of those who came to reach the young people of Nikšić.  Pray for the young people to seek first the kingdom of God.  Pray for the believers who came to continue with encouraging the unbelievers through prayer and personal contact via FB, emails, and Skype calls.
• Praise God for the dozen teens who've come to the Teen Bible Study this past month.  Pray for them to continue, especially with the changes and obligations the new school year brings (and pressure from family and friends not to come).  Pray also for those leading the group (primarily Peter S and Saša) and for those of us hosting and helping out in supportive roles).
• Praise God for His steadfast love that we can confidently proclaim:  "Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting? ...Thanks be to God, He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ."  While missing her, we can rejoice that our sister Miss S. has finished her race victoriously.
• Praise God for the many outreach opportunities granted us this summer. Pray for the seeds sown to be watered and tended, and for the enemy to be foiled in snatching them away. Pray for a quick settling in to a new rhythm and routine with the start up of the school year.
• Praise God for the unity of spirit amongst the believers here in Montenegro that we even have the privilege and responsibility to organize the All-Montenegro Believer's Meeting.  Pray that we would quickly find a suitable facility, reasonably priced for the event.

Note:  This newsletter only covers highlights of our ministry. If you, or your church, would like and can use a more detailed Prayer Requests report sent by private email that supplements this one (not replaces it), please contact Vicki.  "The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much."